Book Two: Price
by Shinigami's Soldier
Summary: Heero has been liberated from his trigger, and the Gundam Boys have taken their leave of the scientists. But they have done so at a price. What price? And who is this hazeleyed man?
1. Prologue: Much Ado aboutSomething

The Perfect Soldier Arc

Book Two: Price

"I am not his father. Not in the biological sense. But he is my son and this is no joke." OC, Chapter Nine

Rated: R

Pairings: 3x4, 1+2

Warnings: angst, shounen-ai, violence, language, OOC

Arc Summary: Doctor J succeeded in making the Perfect Soldier, complete with genetic enhancement and a little fail safe known throughout the military as a "trigger". But he never counted on his comrades not following his example to the tee. The result? You read to find out! Eventual 1+2, 3+4. Far off 1x2, 3x4. Definitely AU. Told from various points of view. All characters are OOC, if only a little.

Book Two Summary: Heero has been liberated from his trigger, and the Gundam Boys have taken their leave of the scientists. But they have done so at a price. What price? And who is this hazel-eyed man?

Notes: Words in **bold type** are flashbacks, words in _italics_ are emotions felt through Quatre's empathy.

Disclaimer: Take a good long look at me. Do I look rich to you? If I do then maybe you need glasses. If not, it's because I'M NOT! I don't own any of the Gundam characters or the "trigger" idea. Hell, I barely know what a trigger is. Everything I used in this fic is based on what I learned in Buffy the Vampire Slayer during season seven.

Prologue – Much ado about…something.

Duo P.O.V.

Sighing deeply I tuned out the conversation around me and looked out the window. It's raining once again. I swear on my scythe that every safe house Wu Fei chooses turns out to be smack dab in the middle of a rain forest. Okay, so maybe not an actual rain forest per say…but we ARE in a forest and it IS raining.

"Maxwell!" I jump and turn to grin sheepishly at the Chinese youth sitting in front of me. His arms are crossed and his eyes are narrowed. Oops.

"Sorry Fei. Got distracted again. What were you saying?" Wu Fei huffed irritably and Quatre, the blonde little angel that he is, took over for him in sympathy.

"We were talking about what we're going to do about Heero." I glanced upwards at the ceiling – and the floor above where Heero was sleeping deeply thanks to some heavy tranquilizers. "We need to remove the collar. But so far everything we've tried has failed. Nothing G has given us is useful." Poor Quatre look to be at a loss as he looked over the scattering of papers on the coffee table.

And it's no wonder; I'm actually surprised he hasn't broken down yet. It was three weeks ago today that we decided to liberate Heero from Doctor J and take our own leave from the scientists, and so far it has proven to be harder than expected.

Professor G is the only scientist out of the five that will even talk to us. The other four are still pissed at us for deciding to work on our own. And that has proven to be a problem for us because the damnable collar of Heero's is made of a special make of Gundanium. Professor G doesn't know how to break it, but J sure does the old bastard.

Add to that we haven't gotten our hands on many of Oz's plans. With our main hacker indisposed and our only other informants acting like children…. Missions would be impossible, if they had been at the forefront of our minds. Which they weren't. Heero was. And that damnable collar.

"We've tried pliers, we've tried bolt cutters, and we've tried metal scrappers..." Wu Fei muttered. "And all that before we woke Yuy long enough for him to tell us the blasted thing was Gundanium."

"It's actually amazing how strong a thin strip of that stuff can be." Quatre mused.

"Yeah, short of torching the thing with a ther…mal…." I paused. "Hey!" Quatre jumped at my shout and I grinned. "Why don't we try taking my thermal scythe to it?"

"Are you mental?! You can't control such a large object and make it cut so little!" Wu Fei spluttered. I blinked in confusion.

"I'm not talking about THAT one." I said. "I'm talking about the one up in my room." I got three blank looks and I could have hit myself. They didn't know about my hand-held scythe. I'd never used it before. "I'll be right back."

"Duo…!" I hopped up, ignored Quatre's startled cry, and bolted quietly up to my room. I peeked in on Heero as I went by, saw that he was curled up on his side, and moved on. I dove to the side of my bed and began digging around under it. Socks flew behind me and a pair of boxers flipped up to probably land on the fan above my bed. My fingers hit metal and I grinned in victory.

I pulled a long, thin, metal rod out from under my bed. Standing up I clenched the rubber hand-holds and twisted. A four inch thick beam shot out of one end and curved around until it was two feet long. Another twist had the curve straightened, and another had it shrinking to a manageable size.

I switched it off and took off back down the hall and down the stairs to crash into the couch. Quatre gave me a disapproving look and I shrugged it off. I held up my scythe with a proud grin. "Ta da!"

"It's a metal pole." Wu Fei snorted, eyeing it skeptically.

"Nyuh uh. It's my scythe. G-man made it for me years ago." And as if to demonstrate I twisted the pole and the beam shot out for the second time that day. Wu Fei cursed in surprise, Quatre jumped and squeaked, and Trowa merely cocked an eyebrow.

"Allah…it looks like an exact replica of your Gundam's scythe." Quatre said. "It actually works?"

"Want me to demonstrate?" I asked. Quatre shook his head frantically.

"No no, I believe you." I turned the weapon off and balanced it on my knee.

"Have you tested it?" Trowa asked. "On different metals?"

"Well yeah. It can cut through regular metal of any kind, no prob. I don't know about Gundanium though. I never found a scrap piece to use and I wasn't about to cut through my buddy out there." I said.

"I'm guessing you can control the beam itself?" Wu Fei asked.

"Yup! I can make it longer, shorter, thicker, thinner, curved, straight..." I trailed off as a thump sounded from upstairs.

"Did you wake him Maxwell?" Wu Fei asked as the sound of footsteps sounded in the hallway. I shook my head.

"He was sleeping like a baby when I checked in on him." But then again, he might have been faking it. He was obviously awake now at any point. And he was standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching us with an odd expression on his face.

TBC

I've finally been allowed to work on this! Shawnie bullied my muses into leaving and is helping me with it himself. Yay.

The scythe is mine btw…..I want one for myself.


	2. Ch1: A cure? At long last, a cure?

Chapter One – A cure? At long last, a cure?

Heero P.O.V.

I couldn't sleep. My injuries were beginning to throb painfully and the collar was sending off weak zaps of energy, intended mainly to annoy me as opposed to hurt me. It was J's way of telling me that he was angry at me. He wanted me back. Unfortunately for him, I was unwilling to return to being his weapon. And the others weren't willing to let me go.

Thinking back on the past months, I realized how lucky I was to have met the other pilots…and how lucky I was that they were willing to look beyond my past and my training. Without them I never would have realized the value of feelings, nor would I have been able to free myself from J and his manipulations.

I was shaken from my musings as I heard a soft pattering of feet – most probably Duo – heading up the stairs and down the hall. They paused outside my door before carrying on. The sound of objects being moved in the next room peaked my curiosity and I got up out of bed once Duo was once again downstairs.

I pushed myself out of bed and stumbled as a zap shot through my aching body. I growled softly at the collar, although it was covered in rubber to prevent J from speaking to me through it, and returned to ignoring it.

I made my way down the hall and down the stairs to find all of the pilots in the living room, sitting around a coffee table covered in papers. I recognized them as blueprints for my collar…rather crude ones probably drawn by Professor G.

"Did the pills wear off already?" Quatre asked from the love seat he was perched on.

"They wore off hours ago." I conceded. "I've been dozing. Have you found anything useful?" Judging by the looks on their faces, they either hadn't or they weren't sure.

"Why don't you have a seat and we'll run something by you." Quatre said. He was preparing to get up but Duo beat him to it. He hopped out of the over large lounge chair and bounded over to me. He nudged my over to the chair and practically shoved me into it, all the while grinning.

"Be gentler Maxwell!" Wu Fei scolded. I smirked lightly as Duo ignored him and perched himself on the arm of the chair. He leaned lightly against my shoulder and nudged me to look over at Quatre.

"We might have an idea. Duo has a miniature version of his Gundam's scythe." I glanced at the pole balanced on Duo's knee, then looked back at Quatre. "It's an exact replica that we can see, and Duo confirms that G made it from the same blueprints." I felt Duo nod.

"You think it might be able to cut through the collar." I said. Quatre nodded. "May I see it?" The pole was presented to me. I studied it for a few minutes before Duo showed me how to work it. A twist and the beam was out. Another twist and it was curved. Yet another controlled the length and strength.

"It's my baby, next to Scythe." Duo admitted as I handed it back to him. All was quiet while I pondered.

"Nothing else will cut it. We know that for a fact." I said out loud. "It wouldn't hurt to try it." I said. "It might have the power to, if anything, short the circuits." Duo grinned and stuck his tongue out at Wu Fei, who huffed.

"Do we want to try it now?" Trowa asked softly. Quatre wrung his hands nervously.

"It's best we try now." I said. "Remember, once it's off you'll need to reset the trigger codes. All of you need to speak them, that way all of you can control me if you need to." They all nodded, and Quatre actually whimpered. I shot him what I hoped to be a comforting look.

"We need to remove the rubbed padding so we know if it'll work." Wu Fei spoke.

"Then you and Trowa need to be ready to pin me." I said simply. "Just in case he manages to trigger me before Duo can cut the collar." Quatre whimpered again in nervousness as Trowa got up to stand to one side of me, and Wu Fei went to the other side. "Duo. There's going to be an indent on the back left side. Try aiming for that."

I closed my eyes. I felt the others remove the rubber, and then heard J's angry voice shouting. Everything went blank.

Quatre P.O.V.

I didn't think Heero would go along with it. I thought he was a tiny bit more sensible than to let Duo try to melt the stupid collar off. But then he was under stress, and in pain. Being burnt badly probably sounded better to him than continuing on as he was. That didn't mean I had to like it.

I watched Heero relax into the chair. Trowa and Wu Fei took positions on either side of him in case he was triggered or became violent. Duo stood behind him and turned on his scythe.

Heero didn't even flinch as it was brought closer to his neck. Trowa removed the rubber coating we put on to block J's voice. There was a second of silence before J's angry voice began swearing at us and at Heero. Heero tensed and his eyes shot open as J continued to shout.

Trowa and Wu Fei immediately grabbed his arms and pinned him to the chair. I almost cried as Heero thrashed violently. Duo cursed as the scythe singed some of Heero's hair, and I flinched as one of Heero's hands came loose to hit Trowa in the face.

"Quatre!" Trowa growled as he regained control of Heero's limb. "Come sit on him and hold his head." I eeped a little in protest. "Now! So we don't burn him."

"Okay." I slid myself onto Heero's lap, dodging the head that was thrust towards me, and fisted my fingers in his hair. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and I winced.

"All right. I let you know when I've cut through." Duo said. I could smell the stench of melting Gundanium as he put pressure on the thin collar. Heero growled and thrashed. I shifted my hands to cover his ears, slightly masking J's voice. He calmed slightly.

Suddenly there was a snapping sound and Heero went limp. His head lolled in my arms and the collar fell onto my lap. I blinked. "Done." Duo said softly. We released Heero and stepped back.

"Trigger control deactivated." I jumped as Heero began to speak. His head lifted and I stared into lifeless blue eyes. "Trigger activation codes re-set. Voice activation re-set." The collar twitched on the floor. "What would you like code level one to be?"

"Code level one?" I mouthed to Trowa.

"I believe Heero said that was his civilian mode." Trowa mouthed back. I nodded.

"At Ease." I spoke levelly. Heero's eyes flashed alarmingly as the words were repeated three more times.

"Code level one activation set 'At Ease' to four different voice codes. What would you like code level two to be?" Now that was creepy.

"Stand Down." I said. Heero's eyes flashed again as everyone repeated it.

"Code level two activation set 'Stand Down' to four different voice codes. What would you like code level three to be?"

"At war." I said. Duo, Trowa, and Wu Fei repeated after me and Heero's eyes flashed once again.

"Code level three activation set 'At War' to four different voice codes. Final initializing begins now." Heero's eyes flashed a brilliant white before they closed and he slumped foreword. Duo managed to grab him from behind and pull him back to lean against the chair.

"Now was that creepy or was it just me?" He asked as Heero's head lolled back. I sat down with a sigh. Trowa and Wu Fei returned to their seats, but remained ready to jump back up if needed. "He didn't say that would happen."

"He probably didn't know." I replied. "Or he would have warned us."

"He doesn't seem the type to scare someone on purpose." Wu Fei agreed. Duo grinned.

"No, but he does like to scare people ON purpose." He said with a smirk. "Remember when he first got here?" I nodded along with Trowa and Wu Fei, remembering his arrival and how he practically attacked us.

"We should get him into a bed, at least until he wakes up." I said once we quieted. "He can't be comfortable in that chair."

"Someone should stay with him until he does." Duo said. "Just in case he wakes up in his soldier mode. Right?"

"Is it me or did Duo just make sense?" Duo stuck his tongue out at Wu Fei before scooping Heero into his arms and headed up the stairs.

"That wasn't very nice." I scolded Wu Fei.

"I wasn't trying to be."

TBC


	3. Ch2: Does it work? Does it?

Chapter Two – Does it work? Does it?

Duo P.O.V.

Since no one else volunteered, I decided to plop myself into a chair in Heero's room after tucking him into bed. Almost immediately he rolled onto his side and curled around a large pillow. I grinned.

Even though it had been three weeks since we'd rescued him from OZ, he was still injured from the abuse he'd suffered. Damn Ozzies and their damn scientists. He had been bathed at one point in a chemical that somehow slowed his healing abilities to that of an old man. Meaning they were basically non-existent.

As the result of his poor healing, he was still covered in bruises. The welts from the leather straps used to hold his in place were still angry and red. Some oozed blood on occasion.

He still gets major headaches from the flashing lights of the ray the scientists tried to use to wipe his mind, and his stomach was extremely sensitive from whatever they forced into his stomach.

It made me shudder to think of what they did to him, trying to weaken him so they could take over control of his triggers. It made me sick to my stomach when I think about how they almost succeeded.

"Duo?" I blink and look up to find Heero on his side facing me, still curled around the pillow. His blue eyes were open, but confused.

"I thought you would be out longer."

"Out?" I joined him on the bed and stretched out as he rolled over yet again to face me. "I was out?"

"Yeah. We found a way to remove the collar." His hand flew to his neck. "We also re-programmed you. Quatre was kinda freaked out."

"He…was? What happened?" Heero asked, eyes narrowed.

"Well, you passed out. Then when you woke up you spoke in the weird mechanical voice. And every time we replaced the trigger words your eyes would flash. Then you completely passed out."

"I did?" Heero pushed himself up with a wince. "My head hurts."

"Lie back down then. You don't need to get up!" I pulled him back down beside me and he grunted. "Oops, sorry if I hurt you." He grunted again.

"Were there any problems?" He asked after a few minutes.

"Other than when J managed to trigger you before I could cut the collar? No." Heero shot up. "Hey, take it easy!"

"Did I hurt anyone?" Heero asked frantically. I sat up.

"You slugged Trowa pretty hard." Heero groaned. "But he's okay and isn't mad at you. No one here is. We're all pissed off at J, actually." Heero, who had buried his head in his arms, looked up.

"You are?"

"Well yeah! He's the one who tampered with you and made you what you shouldn't be!" I said. A pained look crossed Heero's face. "Not that we don't like you as you are. But he really shouldn't have tamped with you like that. None of them should have tampered with any of us!"

"Better us than someone else." I tilted my head. "Better us, than a child with a family. A life."

"Ah." I nodded. "Yeah, I agree. I'm glad it was us. At least you and I didn't have a family for them to destroy." Heero looked up.

"What about the others?" He asked. "Weren't they…?"

"Quatre had a family. He willingly volunteered. He has a father and twenty-nine sisters. Remember?" I prodded him. "They told us that one day, don't you remember? When you first got here."

"Yeah. Yeah, now I remember." Heero said softly. He hugged his knees to his chest and closed his eyes. I leaned against him, back to back, in a companionable silence.

Trowa P.O.V.

"It looks like you were hit by a sledgehammer." I scowled at Wu Fei as Quatre pressed a bag of ice onto my cheek.

"How very kind of you to point that out." I winced.

"I hope we did all that for a reason."

"Wu Fei!" Quatre scolded.

"Well I don't want to have done that and find it not work for us. Can you imagine what kind of trouble a soldier like Heero would make for us all?" Quatre's face settled into a mild glare.

"No Quatre. He's right." I said. "We will need to test the triggers to make sure they work right." The blonde deflated.

"You're right, of course. But what if they don't work? What do we do then?" Quatre asked.

"We'll ask Heero about that." I said. "But with any luck the triggers will have done what he said." Quatre and Wu Fei nodded.

"Winner, why don't you call Po? Have her over for lunch and when Yuy wakes up we can have her observe him." Wu Fei said this with a touch of distaste.

"That's a good idea." Quatre muttered.

"I'll go up and check on them. If Heero's awake I'll ask him if that would be acceptable." Quatre nodded. "Wu Fei, if you would make us some sandwiches?"

"If I must." Wu Fei sighed dramatically and retreated to the countertops to prepare some lunch. Quatre went to the vid-phone and I made my way upstairs.

Heero and Duo were both awake, and were sitting up in the bed back to back, leaning on each other. I gave a half smile and entered the room. Heero's head snapped up and his blue eyes latched onto me – more specifically, my cheek.

"I hurt you." Duo tilted his head to see me, and cocked an eyebrow.

"Not really." I dismissed his concern. "It'll heal. How are you feeling?" I asked. Heero's eyes flickered before he lowered his head.

"My head hurts." He admitted.

"Sally will help that." Heero looked up again. "Quatre's calling her over. We need to make sure you weren't hurt and that the Triggers work." I said. "Is that acceptable?" Heero's head nodded before he rested it on his arms again.

"What if it doesn't work?" Duo brought up the question I was going to ask next. 'What if the trigger words don't work or it doesn't recognize our voices?"

"It should work." Heero said. "If not, then you'll have at least broken the link between me and J."

"Oh. Yeah."

"Wu Fei is making lunch. Do you want to come down?" To my surprise Heero nodded and, with Duo's help, stood up. I followed them down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Quatre had already put out plates and sandwiches. He was pouring juice when he noticed us.

"Feeling okay Heero?" Heero frowned.

"Headache." Was all he said, directing it to both Quatre and Wu Fei. Duo sat him down before plopping himself into the chair next to him.

"Sally will be over shortly." Quatre said as we all began eating.

"She can be trusted?" Heero asked. I shared a look with Quatre.

"She's been our personal physician since we rescued you. Remember?" Heero frowned, but nodded. "She helped heal you."

"I remember now." Then the doorbell rang.

TBC


	4. Ch3: A test? I hate tests

Chapter Three – A test? I hate tests…

Sally P.O.V.

I arrived at the Pilots' safe house at exactly one o'clock, with my handy leather doctor's bag in hand. Quatre greeted me at the door and led me through the halls to the living room. "They're just finishing lunch, were you hungry?"

"No, I already ate." I said. He gave me a smile. "So what exactly are we doing here today?"

"Well you know about the collar and the Triggers. Duo came up with an idea to remove the collar this morning." He said. I frowned.

"You didn't contact me?"

"It was a spur of the moment thing." A voice said from behind me. I turned around to see Duo standing in the doorway, Heero next to him. The teen looked weak to my eyes, and I frowned at him as he hobbled to the couch.

"I'm disappointed in you. Heero's still injured! You shouldn't be fooling around with something like that on your own." My gaze softened when Heero winced. "But done is done." I said before Duo or Quatre could speak.

"We didn't think it would work." Another voice said. I looked up to see Wu Fei and Trowa stepping into the room.

"All right. Moving on then." I said. "What did you want to do here today?"

"We wanted you to look him over to make sure he wasn't hurt from it." Quatre said. "And we want to make sure his triggers work."

"Okay." I frowned. "But we'll only test the triggers if I say he's ready to." Quatre nodded. I turned to Heero. "Shirt off then, let me make sure you didn't aggravate your burns."

Heero complied and, with Duo's help, pulled off his shirt to reveal several burns that looks like belt marks. I poked and prodded at them, and was satisfied to find that none had been rubbed or pulled. None were bleeding, and none were aggravated.

The lacerations where his wings had been forced through were almost healed.

I took the time to poke around his ribs and shoulders, then his face and throat. "Nothing looks out of line." I ran my hands down his legs and checked where the bones had been broken. The thick bandages were still in place.

"My head hurts." Heero said softly once I pulled away.

"Result of too much tampering." I said with a frown. "If it's bad I say you shouldn't test anything today." Heero shook his head.

"It's dull. And the changes never affect my head." I stepped back and Heero put his shirt back on.

"Then I don't see why you can't try it." I admitted. "But do it slowly. One at a time. Don't rush." Heero nodded. "And don't try any transforming." I warned. He gave me an 'are-you-dumb' look and I grinned at him.

"Get yourself comfortable then Heero." Quatre said unhappily. Heero shifted a bit but stayed where he was.

"Do you want to start at the top?" Trowa asked. "And then go down from there?"

"It would be easiest." Heero said. "And if it works just do it that way when you need to." The pilots all nodded and I stood back out of the way. Quatre stepped up first.

"How do I do this?" He asked.

"It's best to say it as part of a sentence, so no one can decipher the words." Heero said. Quatre nodded. He took a deep breath.

"We're at war Heero, it's time to fight." I watched in awe – although I had seen his triggers before – as Heero shot up from the slouched position to sit ram-rod straight. His eyes flashed to a darker blue and his face hardened.

He looked around discreetly, eyes pausing on me before moving on. It almost looked as if he were re-acquainting himself with everything and everyone. Which he might have been.

"Heero?" Duo asked. Heero turned to face him. "You feeling okay?"

"I am uninjured." Duo grinned.

"That's our soldier-boy!" Heero frowned. "So it worked!" Duo said.

"What worked?" Heero asked. "Why was I triggered?" He stood up. "Is there a mission?" I inched behind a pillar as Heero frowned. "Did Doctor J give us a mission?" The pilots looked at each other in confusion.

"Don't you remember?" Quatre asked.

"If something happened while I was in civilian mode I don't always remember." Heero answered promptly. Then he tilted his head and slowly brought his hand up to his neck. "You took it off?" He asked when his hand met thin air.

"Yes."

"Doctor J will be mad."

"We no longer answer to them." Wu Fei spoke up. Heero's head tilted. "Doctor J and the others are no longer our commanders."

"Why?" Heero asked.

"Because we disagree with them." Quatre said. "With what they did to you."

"To me?"

"And to the rest of us." If possible, Heero looked even more confused.

"Genetic engineering." Trowa finally spoke up. "Manipulation. Torture."

"He did not torture me." Heero said.

"Maybe you think of it as training." Quatre said. "And it wasn't only him. You were captured remember? Because of what he did to you." Heero looked down at his body, suddenly noticing the bandages.

"I'm remembering." His eyes hardened. "Are the abductors alive?"

"No. We killed them all." Trowa said.

"And destroyed their data." Wu Fei added. Heero's fist clenched.

"There might still be more. Take me to where I was held."

"No." Quatre said. "You need to recover. They…"

"I need to make sure they have nothing on me." Heero moved towards the door leading to the back yard and growled when Trowa blocked his path.

"They used a drug on you." Trowa said quietly. "It slows your healing abilities. You're still badly injured and cannot go to a decimated base to retrieve anything. We took care of it for you."

"But…."

"Stand down Heero." Trowa said. Heero's shoulders slumped a bit and some of the fire left his eyes.

"You're sure you got it all?" He asked again, in a softer voice. Trowa nodded. Heero turned around and re-claimed his seat on the sofa. He still sat ram-rod straight, but he was more relaxed. A soft spoken "at ease' from Wu Fei resulted in Heero slumping back into the couch.

"How do you feel?" I asked, stepping foreword. Heero looked up as I began to poke and prod. "Does anything hurt?"

"My head, but no worse than before." I nodded and, after a brief rummage through my bag, pulled out a bottle of pills.

"Ultra strength pain relief. Take one pill, with food, when you start feeling pain that you can't handle. Make sure you wait six hours between each pill and never take two at once." Heero nodded and accepted the full bottle. He tucked it away in a pocket.

"Thanks you for coming over." Quatre said as I closed my bag and stood to leave.

"It was no problem for me. If you ever need my help again don't hesitate." I said, subtly reminding him that I WAS their physician. Quatre grinned sheepishly.

"I know. Thank you again." He walked me to the door. I waved as I made my way out to my car, and watched the door close.

"Those boys have a lot in store for them." I muttered before driving off.

TBC


End file.
